Pacific to leave Big West for West Coast Conference

STOCKTON - University of the Pacific is on the verge of returning to its West Coast Conference roots and ushering in a new era for its athletic programs.

Jagdip Dhillon

STOCKTON - University of the Pacific is on the verge of returning to its West Coast Conference roots and ushering in a new era for its athletic programs.

A source with direct knowledge of the situation said the process should be finalized today when the university presidents of the WCC's nine institutions will vote on Pacific's invitation to join, with seven votes needed to pass.

The WCC is currently comprised of BYU, Gonzaga, Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine, Portland, Saint Mary's, San Diego, University of San Francisco and Santa Clara. Pacific would become a WCC member for the 2013-14 academic year. The university was a member of the West Coast Athletic Conference from 1952-71. The conference changed its name in 1989.

Pacific has scheduled a news conference for 1 p.m. today at the Janssen-Lagorio Gymnasium. Athletic director Ted Leland said "discussions are ongoing" and declined further comment. WCC Commissioner Jamie Zaninovich also declined comment.

Pacific's administration, including former Athletic Director Lynn King, has had a long-stated desire to join the WCC, because they felt it was a better fit academically, geographically and financially. All nine members of the WCC are private institutions with only BYU having a student body that reaches five figures at 32,980. Pacific's current enrollment on the Stockton campus is 5,228 students. BYU joined the WCC in all sports but football in August of 2010.

Pacific left the WCAC for the then-Pacific Coast Athletic Association in 1971. It would eventually become the Big West Conference and it has been Pacific's home since. According to conference bylaws, schools departing the Big West are required to give 12 months notice, which is why all of Pacific's sports will have one final season in the conference. Pacific's impending defection comes after the conference had received commitments from Hawaii to join in 2012-13 and San Diego State in 2013-14.

"It's not my position to make any sort of comment until something is official and I feel it would inappropriate," Big West Conference Commissioner Dennis Farrell said.

The Big West is currently comprised of Pacific, Cal Poly, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Northridge, Long Beach State, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Riverside and UC Santa Barbara. Pacific has been the lone private school in the Big West's history, while the conference membership has changed numerous times.

A California-based football conference in its inception, the Big West eventually added and lost University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Utah State, New Mexico State, Nevada, Arkansas State, Northern Illinois, Southwest Louisiana, Boise State, Idaho and North Texas.

Leland told The Record last June that as the department's largest revenue-generating sport, men's basketball would be his priority and the WCC is a much better fit for that program. The WCC had five universities in the NCAA Tournament last season and three (BYU, Gonzaga, Saint Mary's) were in the tournament this season, which means more revenue for all conference members.

The WCC also entered into an eight-year agreement with ESPN last June that guarantees the conference at least 48 men's basketball games a season on its various platforms. Each member school is allocated at least three national television appearances during the season on Thursday and Saturday nights. The contract runs through the 2018-19 season.